WKVI Blood Drive in Progress!

The American Red Cross bus is parked at WKVI ready for donors!

The WKVI/American Red Cross Blood Drive is from now until 4:00 p.m. CT today (Friday). You are encouraged to come to the WKVI Radio station, 400 W. Culver Road in Knox, and give your all important blood donation.

All blood types are needed. If you are 17 years of age, weigh a minimum of 110 pounds and are in good general health, you may be eligible to give blood. Call (574) 772-6241 and schedule a time to give blood.

WKVI's Tom Berg was one of the first to donate blood today!

LaPorte Man Arrested on Outstanding Warrants; Drug Possession

Bryan Lumpp

The LaPorte County Metro Task Force have located and arrested a wanted fugitive in the City of LaPorte. On Thursday, March 10th, Metro Operation investigators developed information concerning the whereabouts of 25-year-old Bryan Lumpp. Lumpp had been listed on the LaPorte County Sheriff’s Office Top Ten Wanted list.

Bryan Lumpp had been wanted on five outstanding criminal warrants for Failure To Appear. The charges for which he failed to appear include one Domestic Battery charge, three Resisting Law Enforcement charges, four Battery charges, a Public Intoxication charge, one Theft charge and one count of Residential Entry.

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British Broadcasting Corporation Visits Knox

Rajini Vaidyanathan and Ted Hayes

A reporter and cameraman from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) visited Knox on Wednesday, March 9th. The pair were here to record a piece on time, and how it affects people’s lives.

Reporter Rajini Vaidyanathan visited the WKVI studios, where the BBC crew did some filming on how broadcasting to listeners in two time zones often causes confusion.

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Starke County Commissioners Accept Trusteeship to Create a Starke County Forest

Bruce Wakeland (L) took the Starke County Commissioners on a tour of the property in 2010

The Starke County Commissioners accepted trusteeship of a piece of property offered by professional Forester Bruce Wakeland this week. The County will be the trustee of the property that the Commissioners hope will be come a real asset to all who live here.

“129 acres is available to create a Starke County forest and I hope the public can enjoy it,” said Bruce Wakeland. “The public can learn about the marvelous wildlife area we have here in the County and how you can have good, healthy forest management and still have a beautiful place to see and enjoy. I think it’s going to be a really good asset for the County and I’m going to enjoy working with the property over the next however many years I have left.”

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Explanation of Medicaid Spenddown to be Featured in Upcoming Program

Community Services of Starke County
Community Services of Starke County

James Skibbe, the State of Indiana Eligibility Manager for the Starke County office of the Division of Family Resources, will present an upcoming program entitled “Understanding the Spenddown.”

Persons on Medicaid have a difficult time understanding the concept and reasoning behind the spenddown that is required before Medicaid funding can be used to meet physician or hospital expenses.

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Washington Township Fire Department Hosts Instructor 1 Training; Test

Washington Township Fire Department was the site of an Instructor 1 training session that was open to Starke County Firefighters as well as firefighters in District 2 on Sunday. Washington Township was approved as the site for the course by Chief John Grolich of Plymouth who is the District 2 training coordinator. Those taking the class included firefighters from Starke County, Bremen, Argos and Etna Green.

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Starke County Community Corrections Changes Location

Starke County Community Corrections will be moving from their current location on North Heaton Street to 1911 South Heaton Street in Knox

The Starke County Community Corrections staff will be moving this weekend to a new location. The staff will move to 1911 South Heaton Street, in the strip mall north of Christos Restaurant.

The first working day in the new office will be Monday, March 14th.

Administrator Bob Hinojosa is inviting the public to tour the facility during a Grand Opening celebration on March 22nd from 1:00-4:00 p.m. CT.

Ted Hayes and Harold Welter to Talk about Their Broadcasting Days on ‘Ted Hayes Remembers’ Program

Ted Hayes and Harold Welter

TED HAYES REMEMBERS Ted & Harold 3-11

On “Ted Hayes Remembers” today, Ted will be joined by a man who he has worked with for 43 years. They began together in Rensselaer, worked two years there, then Ted went to Peoria, Illinois, and Harold to LaPorte.

When WKVI was granted a permit, Harold turned to Ted as his first hire. Ted was the morning man (Three for the Road was the name of the show) and Harold, who was also the manager, read the news across from him.

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Starke County Courthouse Elevator to be Repaired

Starke County Courthouse

The Starke County Courthouse elevator is scheduled for repairs. Courthouse Custodian, Carl Goodrich, talked with the Commissioners this week about this relic. Goodrich was asked exactly what’s wrong with the elevator.

“Basically, the hydraulic system is leaking and it needs to be replaced,” replied Goodrich. “It was put in in 1956 and it needs to be reworked. We’re going to modernize it and bring it up to code. The elevator car itself is going to be there but they’re going to repair the hydraulic systems and everything that goes with the unit.” They need some hydraulic equipment from places like www.cir.net/ to repair the elevator.

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Knox City Council to Gather Bids for New Sign at Community Center

Knox City Council #2
Back Row: Mayor Rick Chambers, Ed Blue, Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston, Greg Matt and Attorney David Matsey. Front Row: Linda Berndt, Jeff Berg and Ron Parker

Knox City Councilman Greg Matt described the electronic sign at the Knox Community Center as a dead horse. Matt told his fellow councilmen that he had a conversation with a representative of Vanadco Signs about the condition of the unit and came away convinced that it can’t be repaired.

The sign is occasionally on, but the right message isn’t displayed and other times it’s off for no reason. A new sign with enhanced graphics, featuring 64,000 color combinations, has been priced at $14,400 for the city. This would include training for office staff who could program it from City Hall.

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WKVI to Host Blood Drive Friday

WKVI's Ted Hayes gives blood during a blood drive last year for the American Red Cross

WKVI will be hosting a blood drive tomorrow, March 11th.

March is Red Cross Month so it’s the perfect time to give blood.

The blood drive will be from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. CT on Friday, March 11th here at the WKVI Studios. The Red Cross staff will be in the Bloodmobile in our parking lot awaiting your important blood donation.

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Applications Available for Grants from Starke United

Starke United

Non-profit organizations have an opportunity to apply for grant money from Starke United.

A total of fourteen organizations received grants last year from $20,000 in available funds. Applications can be found on the Starke United website, or you may pick one up at the office at 52 W. Lake Street in Knox. Applications must be returned to Starke United no later than March 28th, 2011.

For more information, contact Executive Director, Julie Dessauer, at (574) 772-7506.

Knox Middle School Students to Job Shadow Friday

Chris Ross

115 Knox 7th grade students will be job shadowing Friday.

Middle School Guidance Counselor, Chris Ross, explains what kind of jobs the students will be learning about tomorrow.

“Health care jobs from Starke County, the Plymouth hospital, Winamac hospital, Starke County Library, several educational institutions, several local schools – Plymouth, Walkerton, North Judson, and our high school as well as the Elementary, and several vet clinics,” Ross said. “We have a really good mix of jobs being shadowed this year.”

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‘Ted Hayes Remembers’ Program to Feature Broadcast Buddies

Ted Hayes and Harold Welter

When two young men begin careers together they don’t always look down the road thinking they’ll work with each other almost a half century. This week’s Ted Hayes Remembers program will feature “Broadcast Buddies”, Ted Hayes and Harold Welter.

Ted and Harold have worked together at two stations over 43 years. This week they’ll remember some of their radio highlights.

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KIRPC to Manage Star City Sewer Project Grant

Pulaski County Commissioners Tracey Shorter, Kenneth Boswell, Michael Tiede

A grant in the amount of $587,253 is to be received by Pulaski County to assist in funding the construction of the Star City sewer project, a new sanitary sewer system for the unincorporated community. This project, which is funded by the federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), is to come from CDBG funds that were made available for economic recovery after many areas were damaged by natural disasters in 2008.

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Lisa Owens Appears on ‘Breaking Down the Bars’ Program on OWN

Lisa Owens

America got its first look at Lisa Owens behind bars Tuesday night on the new Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).  Owens was filmed on location at the Rockville Correctional Facility as part of a series entitled “Breaking Down the Bars”.

The episode reviewed the crime that led to her incarceration at Rockville which was the shooting of her husband, Jeff, in their Knox home.  For that crime, she was sentenced to 40 years behind bars, but she is being given an early release after serving just ten years.

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Knox Community School Board President Discusses Collective Bargaining

Harold Welter

House Bill 575 is one of the bills being heard in this year’s legislative session and it pertains to collective bargaining for teachers.  In this bill, teachers would be prohibited from bargaining over anything but salaries and a few basic benefits. Bargaining would last 60 days before going to arbitration. The arbitrator would have the final word. Knox Community School Board President, Harold Welter, was asked to talk about collective bargaining at the Knox Community School Corporation.

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Knox Community School Board Approves Bid for Softball Building Project

Gary Dulin, Jerry Fletcher, Harold Welter, Mary Lynn Ritchie, Kirk Bennett, Nathan Marcum, Mike Yankauskas, Superintendent A.J. Gappa

The Knox Community School Board approved the bid from Hamstra Builders in Wheatfield to work on the softball building project. The bid was approved with a 5-1 vote with Board member Nathan Marcum opposed to the project. $271,900 will be transferred from the Rainy Day Fund to be used for this project.

The softball building project will include the construction of a public restroom and dressing room facility for the softball players. Water and sewer lines will be run and will be extended for a possible baseball building project and the infrastructure will allow for other projects in the future.

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Knox Soldier Honored in Wall of Honor Ceremony

Published by Courier-Journal.com:

The shadowbox honoring Sgt. Joseph A. Ford was flanked by Sgt Raymond Pendleton, left, and E4 Specialist Arjan Manwani. (By Jenna Esarey, Special to the Courier-Journal)

With numerous family members and friends on hand, an Indiana National Guard soldier who died in Iraq was honored Saturday at a Wall of Honor ceremony at the New Albany National Guard Armory.

Sgt. Joseph A. Ford was 23 years old when he was killed on May 10, 2008 in a non-combat vehicle accident.

Ford’s sacrifice was recognized with the dedication of a shadowbox containing a folded American flag, Ford’s picture, biography and all of his ribbons, awards and medals from his military career. Approximately 75 people turned out for the dedication, including many members of the HQ & HQ Troop of the 1st Squadron, 152nd Cavalry Regiment based at the armory.

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